Reading the Chunksters discussion

This week's section covers chapters 8 to 11 of the Book of Sand, in which we hear more about Jacob in Smyrna and Nikopol, and meet the mysterious Moliwda.

Chapter summaries (beware spoilers). I will add the descriptions for chapter 11 when I have time.
(view spoiler)[

8. HONEY AND NOT EATING TOO MUCH OF IT, OR: ISOHAR’S SCHOOL IN SMYRNA, IN THE TURKISH LAND

At Isohar’s school, Nahman has been learning to play with words. He is happy, and always sits behind Jacob. In the evening they have other secret lessons. Jacob likes to tell stories of his past, which Nahman does not believe.Nahman and Jacob struggle to find the best common language, and use several.

SCRAPS: WHAT WE WERE DOING IN SMYRNA IN THE JEWISH YEAR 5511 AND HOW WE MET MOLIWDA, AND ALSO, HOW THE SPIRIT IS LIKE A NEEDLE THAT POKES A HOLE IN THE WORLD

(Nahman writes) He describes Isohar’s four kinds of readers (sponge, colander, funnel and sieve). They find employment helping Trinitarians buy Christians out of Turkish enslavemen. A translator was working for the Trinitarians, dressed in Turkish style and speaking Polish. They talk, and the man is reluctant to talk about his business, claiming to be the prince of a Greek Island called MOLIWDA, like him. Nahman tells him about Poland. With the brothers the man talks Polish, and they call him COUNT KOSSAKOWSKI. Moliwda surprises them with the breadth of his knowledge. One day Tovah from Nikopol arrives with his 13-year old son. This leads Isohar to start unfamiliar disputations. Tovah warns them not to get too close to Christianity.Tovah prepares to leave, and Mordke opens a bottle of wine, which Tovah refuses. They suggest Jacob as a possible husband for Tovah’s daughter Hana, which would make him respectable. Tovah does not oppose the plan, and Jacob is summoned. Tovah tells them the Messiah is in Salonika, and is in Baruchiah’s son Tonio. Jacob says he will go to see him. Nahman talks of the spirit entering Jacob, giving him an erection and making him sweat and urinate.


9. OF THE WEDDING IN NIKOPOL, THE MYSTERY UNDER THE HUPPAH, AND THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING FOREIGN

The narrator discusses the 18th century map (printed on the previous pages), and says it is sparsely populated with cities most of which are on rivers, especially the Danube. The Turkish empire stretches from the Dniester to the Mediterranean. The difficulties of travelling are discussed. Nikopol is a small city on the Danube where the Jews speak Ladino, a language they have brought from Spain. Jacob knows Ladino, Nahman and Mordechair prefer Hebrew and Turkish. The wedding of Jacob and Hana is described. The next morning Nahman has a hangover, and watches Hana poking a wasp’s nest. He finds her bland. Hana has a twin brother HAYIM who wants to go to Craiova, but his father doesn’t want him to go. Under the huppah Tovah talks to Jacob and says something that surprises him. The guests ask about Jacob. Jacob has started introducing himself as Jacob Frank – Frank (foreign) is what people in Nikopol call Jews. He has told Nahman that he likes the freedom of travel. Jacob’s first lesson is that you have to practise saying no every day. He likes to speak concisely and clearly, and says wise and stupid things. Jacob prepares to leave, as Tovah has found him a good job in Craiova, a larger city on the Danube, working for his brother-in-law, a trader. Mordke plans to stay in Nikopol, Nahman to return to Poland. Next morning Nahman travels to Bucharest and joins a caravan to Poland, where he arrives in Rohatyn as the Shorrs are celebrating a wedding.

IN CRAIOVA: OF TRADE ON HOLY DAYS AND OF HERSHEL, FACED WITH THE DILEMMA OF THE CHERRIES

At the workshop of Abraham, Tovah’s brother. Abraham trades Turkish goods all over Europe. The entrance is low. Jacob sits at a little table having tea. He greets every guest, and the warehouse has become the most popular place in Craiova. Abraham is a follower of Sabbatai Tzvi and his successor BARUCHIAH, who was born nine months after Sabbatai’s death, in the mouring month of Av, as predicted, and for the Sabbatarians the mourning period has become a celebration. Jacob plays conjuring tricks on the clients, finding eggs in their pockets. This does not amuse HERSHEL, an orphan from Czerniowce and a distant relation of Abraham. He struggles to reconcile the Sabbatarians’ beliefs with mainstream Judaism. Hershel is Jacob;’s helper, and is largely ignored. He struggles to decide whether to participate in the feast. He shows Jacob the scripture that prescribes the fast. Jacob reads it and laughs, then kisses him. Hershel accompanies Jacob n visits to many women in the town, Jacob has promised Tovah he will study, but Hershel can see that reading tires him. He also leaves letters from Nahman in Poland, which Hershel reads. Jacob dreams of having a home with vineyards where he can bring Hana, but is happy with his life. Hershel has to cover for him. Jacob also takes Hershel to his bed.

OF A PEARL AND HANA

Jacob wants to give Hana a precious pearl. He and Hershel take the pearl to various jewellers, who say it is too precious for them to risk damaging by setting it. This angers Jacob. They cross the river and find a man who will drill the hole in the pearl. He tells Hershel that the secret of getting things done is not to make a fuss over them. At Hanukkah they go to see Hana in Nikopol. Hershel observes that they don’t respect kosher. Hana, who now has the pearl, wants to visit her sister in Vidin, and goes with Jacob and Hershel. Hershel falls in love with Hana. Just before they reach Vidim, Jacob and Hana ask him to drive into the hills. They get out, and while Hershel is waiting he lights a pipe with some of Mordke’s resin. He sees a vision of a white stone city, and sees Jacob and Hana having sex.


10. WHO THE PERSON IS WHO GATHERS HERBS ON MOUNT ATHOS

Count Antoni Kossakowski arrives at the harbour below Mount Athos. He has a sudden sense of well being and freedom. He feels that life gets better the weaker Christianity gets. He lodges at an inn run by a woman known as Irena or Mother, who is a widow. The serving maids are castrates with breasts. Irena appears to be the only woman there. He climbs the hill, but cannot enter the monastery. He and the other pilgrims sleep and pray in a house outside the walls. Kossakowski tends a garden, and has also been working as a longshoreman at the harbour. This work allows him to make deliveries to the monastery. In the courtyard, the caretaker, a monk, offers him olives and freezing cold water. Kossakowski is initially reluctant, preferring to walk outside the monastery, where he imagines Greek gods living. One day he falls asleep on the mountain, wakes and sees a vision. He hears the sound of the sea as a lament for a God whose effort in creating the world killed him. He tries to pray and fails. Next morning he boards a boat without knowing where it is heading, and finds he is going to Smyrna, where he starts working for the Trinitarians and calls himself Moliwda. He enjoys talking to the Polish Jews, and likes Nahman best. They discuss the nature of the soul and sin. He remembers the names and prices of the freed Christians. One of them is ANNA POPIELAWSKA, who wants to return to Poland and arranges to board a ship for Salonika. She and Moliwda flee to a small port city and rent a house there using his money, but Anna meets an agha there and vanishes with his money. Moliwda returns to Smyrna, but the Trinitarians have replaced him and the Jews are gone. He remembers his childhood, and an uncle’s young wife, and feels lonely. He feels that his life has reached a conclusion, and there is no other world.


11. HOW IN THE TOWN OF CRAIOVA MOLIWDA-KOSSAKOWSKI RUNS INTO JACOB

Two years later, Moliwda is going to see a madman, a holy fool. He watches the crowd from a distance, then goes inside. A man asks him what he wants, and he says he is there to listen. In the centre of the group is a tall man dressed like a Turk, who speaks Turkish mixed with Greek and Hebrew. He recognises the old man sitting next to Jacob as Reb Mordke, and they talk. Moliwda listens to a disputation, and recognises the Jewish language of Poland when Nahman speaks, and remembers his past. As it gets dark, a group of young men surround Jacob and they go out into the town. Moliwda and Reb Mordke follow at a distance.

THE STORY OF HIS LORDSHIP MOLIWDA, OR ANTONI KOSSAKOWSKI, OF THE ŚLEPOWRON COAT OF ARMS, WHICH IS ALSO KNOWN AS KORWIN

Moliwda/Kossakowski comes from Żmudź, and is the son of a hussar. He has five brothers, one military man, two priests and two he knows nothing about. He has not been in Poland for 20 years, and he has forgotten much of his Polish. His childhood was spent with his demanding uncle Dominik. Young Antoni often ran away. His uncle eventually found a position for him in King Stanisław Leszczyński’s chancellery in Warsaw, where he told stories and had drunken adventures. He was banished, and his uncle sent him to his mother’s estate, Bielewicze where he is the young lord. He visit’s the mill to see the miller’s daughter Malka, who becomes pregnant. He kidnaps her and marries her, and they run away to escape the wrath of his uncle.

OF WHAT DRAWS PERSONS TOGETHER, AND CERTAIN CLARIFICATIONS REGARDING THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS

Moliwda finds himself spending a lot of time in Jacob’s warehouse. Moliwda introduces himself as a client, and a Polish count. Some Silesian traders turn up looking for pearls, and when the deal is done Jacob arranges a feast. Moliwda talks to Nahman, who asks about his past, and he is evasive. They then discuss religion and transmigration. A few days later Nahman asks him if he served the sultan as a spy, which he does not deny. Nahman asks what he wants. He says nothing, but Nahman is not convinced. A few days before Nahman travels to Poland, Moliwda asks them to visit, bringing a carriage. He realises that the secret of Jacob’s magnetism is that he is always authentic and consistent.

JACOB’S STORY ABOUT THE RING

They rest on the journey, and look down on Craiova, which looks small. Hershel asks Jacob to tell the story about the ring. Jacob describes a family that own a ring that makes its bearer happy, passed down the generations. One set of parents has three sons “at once”. The parents decide to go to a goldsmith and get him to make two more identical rings, and the goldsmith mixes them up so that they don’t know which the original was. When the sons reach adulthood, each is given a ring, but they distrust each other. They go to a judge, who advises them all to live as if their ring is the real one. Like the three rings, there are three religions. Jacob advises anyone born into one to adopt the others too to find salvation. This reminds Moliwda of a prayer he has heard Nahman reciting.

SCRAPS: WHAT WE SAW AMONG MOLIWDA’S BOGOMILS

(More from Nahman’s journal): An apology for beoing unable to record everything. He describes Moliwda’s village, where there are no fowl. The villagers are excited by the guests. Moliwda asks them to greet the guests with a song. They appear to live well, and do not treat Moliwda as a master. There is a woman they call Mother, and Moliwda esteems her. They have a democratic community and live communally. Moliwda describes this as a new way of living, but the guests sense that he and Mother are leading them. Their diet is vegetarian. They (the Bogomils) believe they are ruled by the planets. Jacob and Nahman see their beliefs as similar to their own. Moliwda tells them their heart’s prayer “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me”. The Bogomils also believe that marriage is sinful, and that people should live naturally. A few days later Nahman and Nussen travel to Poland, and Nussen wonders if similar villages might be established in Podolia.

(hide spoiler)]

Is anyone else reading this? I feel like I'm talking to myself at the moment ;)

Yes, it does feel quiet. Hoping someone else will chip in soon.

I wanted to re-read this anyway, but I'm conscious of all the work you're putting in to the summaries, Hugh, if no one else is reading...

I stopped reading. I tried and tried and went way ahead of our schedule hoping something would click for me, but I'm just not motivated enough to continue. For one thing, I don't like Jacob and don't want to read about him, which makes it hard to keep going. The book itself is engaging to a point, opening up a world of characters, places and time for me, and maybe I should read even more, but I've lost steam. I agree with Roman, it's a lot of work for Hugh if no one else is reading. Thank you, Hugh, for your work and apologies to all for bailing.

I am currently on chapter 9. It's easy to read this book because of the story telling style, I like author' a use of Yente's Omnipresence for telling the stories. I noticed that all the priests, prophets, rabbis and sages cross examin religious beliefs and scripture, also 'motives' of God.
There are multiple perspectives for The Shorr household by various characters.

I enjoy the way author describes cultural, religious and traditional practices of a place, along with its history. She doesn't even keep the trades out of the scene.

The definition of Salvation delivered by Yente's father is thought provoking. His philosophy of 'keeping yourself hidden ' is intriguing.

I am currently away from home and not active on GR. I will be back on 15 May. Still I will try to be on schedule. Though this book exposes my absolute (shameful)ignorance of Judaism, this is my kind of book.
It is unfortunate that things didn't turned out as expected by the members who voted for it.

I am happy to keep the threads going, but I have continued reading beyond where the summaries ended without making any further notes, so I won't be writing any more detailed summaries. I may just use the chapter and sub-chapter headings.

Thanks for your effort Hugh. I don't post much.. single thread for book as a whole will do for me, I can mention chapter number in my post, creating all the threads will be a futile exercise in current situation.

Thanks - that is a good idea